Untitled
by ambeana
Summary: A girl trapped in a world that she doesn't understand, a bored goblin king needing a distraction. It's an open idea, one that I would like to develop further, but I need help. Please read and review. Be as brutal or as nice as you wish, as long as it is honest! I'm open to all ideas and thoughts on this little project. I need YOU Labyrinth lovers. Tell me what you think!
1. Chapter 1

Not so long ago, a rather exhausted goblin king sat in a stone window. He leaned his back against the rough honed frame, one leg dangling on the side of his rather imposing castle. In his hands were crystal orbs that he swirled over his fingers with natural ease, gazing intensely into their seemingly transparent globes. A game, he thought, I need a game. Something to distract him from the bitterness of border wars and the constant noise of his goblins. Something different. As his thoughts circled through his mind so did a large town in one of the orbs. The goblin king focused upon the orb, a mortal town, he mused. When was the last time he thought to mingle with the peoples that populated the Aboveground? Many years, the last had been a young girl, too old to keep for a subject, too young to keep for himself. He sighed as he thought of her, tenacious girl. Lovely eyes and insolent innocence. He fleetingly thought of visiting her, perhaps in a dream, but quickly dismissed the idea. No, no, she was a mother now. As lovely of a game she would make, it could have detrimental results if somehow he were to lose. No her time in the labyrinth has passed. The goblin king liked the broken and the unwanted. What he needed was broken and unwanted with potential. He focused on the revolving mortal town. As he gazed, the town became clearer, twirling closer and closer in view. Slowly, the crystal focused on a red brick building, four stories high and old. Creeping ivy snaked up its sides. The view centered on window on the top floor of the building. A warm glow poured through and soon a pale face with a mess of dark curls came to it and threw it open. "I wish it was real!" the face cried to the stars and moon. There, thought the goblin king, there is my game.

~One day earlier~

Lucy woke to the sound of her insistent, obnoxious alarm. Slamming her hand on the snooze button she rolled over and gazed at the crimson numbers. Ugh, she thought, already seven. She heaved herself up rubbing her stiff shoulders and the sleep from her eyes. She turned the alarm off and stood up stretching. She tore through her closet for some clothes while longing for the open arms of her blankets and bed. "I'm too old for this shit," she said aloud.

Lucy's thirtieth birthday had passed a month ago. She was just a working stiff. Dropped out of college after a nervous breakdown, with no desire to go back. There were still so many lingering doubts and worries. She had a decent job at a used bookstore a couple of blocks from her decent apartment. She enjoyed her job, it was laid back and challenging when it needed to be. She smiled in her mirror as she turned to see her ass in her favorite jeans. She dashed from her room to the bathroom to smear some make up on her face to get to her favorite part of her morning, coffee.

Not too long, she had readied herself for work, made her thermos of coffee and scraped a meager lunch together. She checked her wallet for possible spare dollars, with no luck. Another day spent in minor hunger. I guess I shouldn't have bought that trilogy, she thought to herself, glancing at her overstuffed bookshelves. She snatched her keys from an end table and locked the door behind her.

~~

Lucy loved the old bookstore. It's towering, claustrophobic bookshelves in tight aisles, the musty smell of old paper and worn out bindings, the exposed red bricks, and of course Carl, the owner of the store. Carl was a crotchety old man with a love for epic fantasy and old, old books. He was a bent, decrepit man of almost eighty. He lost most of his hair and what was left was white and translucent. He restored books, which was his main focus. The bookstore, which Lucy mostly ran, was just a way to siphon money to his hobby and to pay his bills. Carl was fond of Lucy if not much else. They both had an understanding. Words were important and sacred. Both had the understanding that words should not be spent on the mundane and the inane. Quiet was appreciated. Except today, Carl had found something he considered rather special. He waited with time-tested patience for Lucy to come.

The front bell jingled signalling Carl that Lucy had arrived. He wove his way through the labyrinth of bookshelves until he came to the front counter and found Lucy, shaking off the morning fall chill. Her dark dark curls cascaded over her shoulders and over her brow. Her pale face was pink in the cheeks, her eyes lined with coal black. She had a long gray and black striped cardigan that came down to her mid thigh. True to Lucy trends. She was readying the front of the store, setting out new arrivals on the counter and counting the till. Carl cleared his throat to announce his presence.

Lucy looked up and smiled, "good morning Carl, love."

"Lucy dear," Carl greeted," I have something to show you. Something that you might like."

Lucy was intrigued. "Oh?" She asked, walking around the counter towards the bent old man. Carl nodded and turned to the back of the store towards his workshop. Lucy followed as he explained himself a little more.

"It is a book that I found some months ago. A single edition book that I have never heard of."

Lucy was shocked, Carl's memory for books in and out of print was unparalleled. "Really? What kind of book, Carl?"

"Oh just some short fantasy novel, straight to paperback, from the 1980's. Based on a movie. The Labyrinth? Does this sound familiar to you?"

Lucy stopped in her tracks. Familiar? She laughed in her mind. It was her favorite movie when she was very young. David Bowie as a rockstar Goblin King with a codpiece, Jim Henson and weird puppets. How could she not be familiar with it? She knew the print copy of the book was rare. She could never get her hands on it once she knew it was a book. Carl realized that she had stopped following him and turned to look at her. He smiled.

"So you're familiar?"

"Yes, very much so. Where in the world did you find it Carl?"

"Oh, some woman dropped it off with a box of other treasures. Come, come," he hustled her," It's in my office."

They went through an old door with a glass pane declaring "DO NOT ENTER" into Carl's office. Books and yellowed papers and empty bindings made haphazard piles on the floor around his desk and against the walls and shelves. rolls of different colored leather and vinyl leaned against the piles. Old world maps and lists were taped on the walls. There was a strong smell of rubbing alcohol and glue. various tools and magnifying glasses littered his desk top. Set to the side of Carl's latest restoration was a dark blue, beat to shit, paperback. Lucy saw the goblin king in all of his spike/punk hair, glitter glory.

"oh my goodness Carl, you really do have it!" Lucy couldn't keep in her excitement. Carl gave her a warm smile.

"My dear i know that I missed your birthday last month." He held up his hand as she opened her mouth, "And I thought this would be something you would adore, my little dark fantasy lover." his wrinkles folded into a higher smile, "So this is my gift to you. Keep it. I know it's going to the best home it could."

Lucy looked at him with her mouth slightly open. "Really? But Carl, this book is really rare! You could probably get three hundred for it from the right buyer."

Carl shook his head. "No Lucy dear, it is yours. I don't want to hear another word about it. It never belonged to me, always to you. You know books, they belong to whom they will. I would never deem to keep a book from a true owner for a little bit of profit." He picked up the book and held it out to Lucy who took it with baited breath.

"Carl, thank you! I appreciate the gesture. And I appreciate you!" She hugged the wizened old man, who patted her back embarrassingly.

"Now, now, don't make a big deal out if it. It's just a silly story for a silly young woman who still day dreams too much." He smiled as he went on." Go on, I don't pay you to sit in my office and be sentimental. shoo." He motioned for her to get back to her work. She smiled broadly and pressed the book to her chest.

"yes sir." She assented and marched back to the front of the store, her heart full of love for the little old man who loved stories as much as she did.

~~~~

Lucy walked home. The air had a crisp, decaying, yet clean smell to it. It was deep into fall, the leaves have changed and fallen, they swirled in little whirlwinds before her. The wind had a bite and the sun had since fallen just below the horizon. The street lamps were few and dim, casting orange light and shadows across the sidewalks past old buildings and little houses. It was a melancholy walk, one that Lucy loved. Everything here had a sense of past. past it's prime. There was once a thriving life here, people, street vendors, the stir of commerce. A brisk wind picked up suddenly that made Lucy snuggle deeper into her green wool coat and pick up her pace.

Lucy liked walking home alone. She like being alone with her thoughts and daydreams. When she was younger, she thought that this would interpret best into becoming a writer. She went to college with next to nothing and left it, broken, in debt and discouraged. Life was way more complicated than figuring out what you wanted to be in life. It was surviving in society, with rules that just didn't make sense. It was a twisted journey that left much wanting in her. She never understood why she felt so outside of everything. It was like nothing truly fit. She tried her options and everything was uncomfortable and not her. She wanted to dance. She wanted to fight. She wanted to play silly games and evil games. She wanted to feel not so broken.

Lucy was lonely. She wanted to live in her dreams, and no one was on the same page as her. She pushed people away, she knew that. But how could she be happy if she had to hide half of who she was? She was fiercely infatuated with the things that were impossible. Magic, spontaneous songs and dances, a soul mate that loved her to the ends of the earth and beyond. She felt strong in that world. The world of fey and creatures so strange and diverting. She longed for it with an ache that she could never share with the world she lived in. It wasn't real to them, only to her. She reached into her bag to pull out her beloved book. She stared at the cover, a smile playing on her face. Oh how she loved that world. The labyrinth felt right. The goblin king felt right. Everything felt right. She flipped open the book to a random page to read. She snapped the book shut before she could start. She stuffed it back in her bag, no, she thought. I'll keep it for when i get home. And she all but ran the rest of her way, sprinting along with little bursts of anticipation.

She finally reached her door in the quiet apartment building a little short on breath. The beautiful red brick building was a pre-war paper mill, renovated to hold ten small apartments. Her neighbors were quiet people, mostly married, childless couples, who kept to themselves. Lucy loved that. She set her bag on the table with her keys, flicked over some lamps and turned up her furnace. The old water heaters ticked themselves awake. She put on a pot of coffee to brew, it was almost eight at night, but this was her favorite time to drink coffee;at night. Friday night, nothing to do now, nothing to do in the morning. She took off her shoes and plugged in her phone. She rifled through her bag until she held THE LABYRINTH. She smiled as she opened it, smiled as she read. She read as she poured herself some coffee and continued to do so as she parked herself on her favorite chair. She read deep into the night. Stopping only to smoke half a joint and heat up leftovers for dinner. She ate her dinner and devoured her book. And after mere hours, she turned to the last page, a little sad to see it go. Lucy closed the book and hugged it to her breast. She was so happy, high from the pot, high from finishing a wonderful story. She went to her window and threw it open. She pushed her face into the moonlight, cold air tracing cold fingers across her face and over her scalp. The moon was swollen, white and bright. The night, clear and cold as it was, boasted a full sky of stars, unusually luminous. Lucy felt happiness to burst, but as always, it was tainted with a sadness she just couldn't shake. She wished for a labyrinth of her own. If only it was real...

"I WISH IT WAS REAL!" she cried, tears rolling down her cheek. Then, as if suddenly aware of what she was doing, Lucy flung herself inside and slammed the window shut. She took a breath and looked around her small apartment. Shabby, but clean and familiar. Bookcases dotted around the open floor plan. She kept breathing slowly as she tried to even out her emotions. She read the book titles of her collection like a soothing mantra. Soon she felt more even, a little more relaxed. Lucy went to her freezer and pulled out an almost forgotten carton of cigarettes. She walked back to her chair, took out a pack and threw the carton on the table with her keys. As she lit a cigarette, a large gust of wind shook her windows and all three of her lamps blew out, pitching the room into semi darkness. Moonlight streamed through a couple of windows, throwing more shadows than light. Lucy sparked the lighter in reflex to the sudden onslaught of dark. Her heart beating her ribs like a moth in a jar. "Fuck," she cursed to herself. She turned to light a couple of candles scattered artfully around the room. The lighter dissolved some shadows as she moved, pushing them back until a face was revealed. Lucy jerked back as if she was shot. The lighter snuffed out and she tumbled backwards over a low table.

As she scrambled to sit up, the face moved closer. Otherworldly and masculine, it had strange sharp planes over the cheeks and high arched eyebrows that cut up into a smooth, clear brow. Strips of blonde hair spiked wildly around the face and down almost to his shoulders. A black cloak, with a high collar, draped down his shoulders and arms, shooting sparks into the dark as it caught the moonlight. Lucy's breath caught in her throat, the moth in her chest evolved into a bird in her throat. She pushed herself from the floor, standing, she was about the same height as the strange being's chest. The fey creature let a haughty smile play on his lips and brought his hand up to reveal a smooth crystal orb. In a strange, though not so far-fetched sense of deja vu, Lucy said the first thing that came to her mind.

"You're him. You're the Goblin King."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hi all! I've posted another chapter. I don't plan on updating as quickly in the future, but hopefully it will be on the regular. Thank you all who have read and reviewed. Your opinions are very much appreciated and encouraging. I hope you guys keep liking it and keep telling me how i can make it better. I'm taking liberties with the story, and this piece started out as just a random idea I had floating in my mind. But as i wrote on, I realized that it smacked too much of The Labyrinth, so I rewrote and decided to make it a fanfiction. I promise that I will slip in some fan service now and then. I do not own the Labyrinth, nor do I intend to make money from using any characters, sequences, or lines that I might steal, ahem, take inspiration, from the movie. All other possible similarities are purely coincidental.

P.S. I need a title people, HELPS!

**Chapter 2**

The Goblin King's smile hitched to a smirk as Lucy made her declaration. She squared her shoulders and stood on shaky legs, smashing out the lit cigarette into the threadbare carpet, wondering if she was hallucinating. Either way, she was going to go with it. "Why are you here?" she asked when it was apparent he wasn't going to confirm, deny or disappear forever. He slowly moved toward her, arm outstretched. The crystal perched on his fingertips, then rolling backward to his palm. His fingers and wrist moved the sphere with hypnotizing ease and speed.

"Lucy," his voice was resonating, lyrical, "You know this game."

Lucy's eyes widened and her hand gripped her lighter harder. She heard high pitched squeals and low laughs float across the room, coming from shadows all around. Lucy's eyes darted back and forth, her breathing hitched up a notch. Is this really happening? She thought wildly, locking her eyes on the pair before her.

"I-I didn't say the right words." Lucy stumbled over her words, "I don't know what you want."

"Why, Lucy," The Goblin King tsk'd her, "You know the wish. A wish for your very own labyrinth." He crept closer, she stepped back in sync. He seemed to loom over her, his air sucking her's from her lungs. Her eyes roamed over his unearthly form. His hands were encased in smooth leather gloves, as dark as pitch. He wore a black linen shirt, open at the throat. Dark leggings clung to his legs, moving with him like a second skin. She drank in the surreal sight before her, her cheeks heating as her eyes grazed up from his heeled boots to his groin, back to his otherworldly face. She couldn't help herself, she compared his face to David Bowie. The two could not really be compared, but one faintly reminded her of the other. This was her imagination finally eating her alive. Lucy mentally recoiled from the thought.

"I did," She acceded with some force, afraid that if she didn't say something he would melt back into the nothing he sprung from. His face split into a cruel smile and suddenly, he closed the ever shrinking space between them, his lips at her ear.

"Lovely, lonely Lucy," his breath was against her skin. His words were bitter chocolate, laced with disdain. "A broken, forgotten treasure. Never appreciated for what she was. Alone in a world where NO one understands her." He moved with the same breakneck speed to her other ear, twirling her hair between his fingers. "No one but her stories. Such a pity." With that, dozens of little voices made themselves known with snickers and snorts.

"What do you want, Goblin King?" Lucy asked, with all the bravado she could muster. She would not be goaded. She turned to look at him, catching glimpses of balls of hair, horns and helmets, darting from one shadow to another, giggling all the way. She tried to follow the movements, but there were too many. She jerked her face back to his, she strained to keep her eyes level to the gaze that seemed to slap her. Something about his proximity was over powering and claustrophobic for Lucy. A million different thoughts flew through her mind- scenarios, guesses, theories- as to what this Goblin King could possibly want from her. Perhaps there was one, Lucy thought, that involved untying the rest of that shirt? She skipped over the scenario that would lead to. As if responding to her thoughts, the Goblin King tilted her chin up with his finger, catching her deep blue eyes with his mismatched ones. His mouth hinted at a smirk. He leaned into her, their noses barely brushing the other's cheek. His lips were less than a breath away from hers. She forgot how to breathe.

"I want a game, pet." he whispered, just barely tracing his lips past hers over her cheek to her ear. His arms were suddenly around her, pulling her closer to him. Lucy struggled to keep her expression neutral, her arms pinned to her sides by his caging embrace, breathing was out of the question. "And I want you to give it to me. You want your own labyrinth, Lucy. Nothing comes without a price. If you want your own labyrinth, you must challenge me for mine" Lucy opened her mouth in protest, he tightened his hold in response and continued on. "This is the price for a kingdom."

"I don't want your kingdom, just my own labyrinth." she sighed, breathlessly, her lips at the roots of his neck.

"The kingdom is the labyrinth, the labyrinth is the kingdom." He released her and started to circle her again, leaning in as he emphasized his words. " You want magic, it always comes with a price. You want to belong to a world that does not belong to you. Do you really believe that this is just naturally gifted to you? You are a fool, Lucy. To belong to anything, you must fight. You must go through the toils and trials. You must be willing to die in order to live. And looking at what you've done with your life, you're no more than an unusual nick-knack taking up space on a shelf that could house something more useful. A wishing well is still a well, you Lucy, are no more than a broken, wasted wish."

Lucy felt tears sting at her eyes, but they did not fall. Her ribs seem to collapse on themselves. She felt the truth of his words ring through her like some horrible cathedral bell. Truly, what was she? She spent most of her life wishing she was some where else, that she was something else. Lucy felt a burning in her chest, like a slow smouldering ember of anger, slowly gaining heat and strength with each beat of her heart. Even this far seeing fey could not see the small pool of despair that gathered in her mind as she had gone through life. She knew that she would fight when the fight felt worth it. Many words sat poised at the tip of her tongue, each one a little barb of white anger and poison darts of tribulation. "My pain is worth more than the prizes this world offers me. I regret nothing." Her voice sounded stronger than she felt.

Without warning, he flew back from her and out of her line of sight. Lucy became frantic, spinning on spot, trying to see him through the deepening shadows of the apartment. She saw no trace of goblins or their monarch. He was gone, she would never know. Her mind started to insist that she was dreaming. She began to let out a moan of frustration, when she felt little hands starting to pull at her legs. Goblins were pawing at her, tugging at her clothes, pinching painfully. The smaller ones climbed up her cardigan and tangled themselves in her hair, pulling her this way and that. They were of all shapes and various short heights. Some had huge heads and little bodies, others had animal-like faces. Some with bulbous, large eyes, others with razor teeth. Some had crude iron armor and weapons, others sported badly stitched leather. All smelled like rotten bread, all had claws. She felt their noses snuffling her clothes and skin, leaving sticky goo in their paths. They stuck their little fingers in her mouth and at her eyes. Lucy fought her urge to struggle and choked back a sob of relief. She didn't feel threatened by the goblins actions, she welcomed them. For a split second she thought that she had imagined the whole thing, she would take whatever they would give her, as long as they stayed in her sight and out of her imagination. Instead of flinging them from her, she allowed them to prod and examine her. She held still, taking slow breaths through her mouth, relishing the idea that maybe this wasn't all in her head.

"My goblins find you puzzling Lucy." Lucy's stomach jumped into her mouth. The goblins hopped off and scampered from her as the Goblin King spoke. She slowly turned to the sound of his voice and inhaled sharply. He stepped from the dark corner that sheltered him from her sight. She felt trickles of blood roll down her skin from where the goblins' claws gripped and scraped a little too hard for her soft flesh. Sweat beaded her forehead. Relief washed through her, he wasn't gone, he was still here. His macabre form was too beautiful to not stare at. She wanted to say whatever it took to keep him close.

"Then, I should make a great game." she returned. She smiled, I want to play, she thought. She collected herself. She would go on the offensive and prove herself. She strode toward the seemingly unapproachable goblin king, stopping within arms length of him. " I will take your kingdom for my own. I will have what I want. I will give you your game, Goblin King."

The Goblin King's arm suddenly struck out, connecting with Lucy's chest and sent her flying back into the opposite side of the room. She crashed into a wall, collapsing to the floor, with bits of drywall and plaster. Pain shot through her shoulder, she winced as she rose. She tasted blood in her mouth, from biting her cheek on impact. The Goblin King laughed a slow and sinister laugh. "If you play Lucy, I will kill you. This is no game for a little girl trapped in a woman's body. You fail, I will have your life." Lucy paused, fear bubbled somewhere in her abdomen. How could she possibly challenge him? He had strength that surpassed hers a thousand times over, magic that she didn't know the rules for. What hope did she have? Doubt gnawed her raw. She said the only thing that came to her mind, "So be it." She said clearly, pushing through the intimidation she felt closing in on her. She spat blood to prove her point. Shot him with a look that she hoped made her look dangerous, half expecting him to spirit across the room and strike her again.

Instead he stalked to her, gait steady and quick. His steps making no noise across the carpet. He gripped her jaw in his hand, forcing her face up, squeezing it to the point of agony. "A lovely game you shall make indeed, " He said. He released his hold and stepped away. Lucy let go of a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

"Run my labyrinth, pet." his words were slow honey through her brain. " Find a way to take my kingdom and it's yours."

"And if i lose, you'll kill me?"

"Undoubtedly pet."

"I accept. Show me." She stepped away from the wall, keeping her eyes on him, she went to her table holding her bag and  
cigarettes snatching them both up.

The Goblin King smiled his eerie smile and swooped to her , spinning her around to face not her apartment wall, but a barren, dry landscape. Lucy's jaw dropped. There it was, the labyrinth, sprawling walls miles and miles in every direction; mountains, tall and craggy, lined the horizon. A dry, warm wind whipped her hair around her face, she stepped from the Goblin King's arm and turned to him. "Do I have a time limit?"

"You have time until I decide that I am bored. Do you still wish to play?" He flexed his fingers, conjuring another crystal orb, again making it move acrobatically over his hands.

"Do I have a choice?" She asked.

The Goblin King stilled his movements and regarded her. "There is always a choice, pet. You could turn back, go back to your  
stories and daydreams. Go back to your life that is quiet and safe."

Lucy shook her head, " I can't do that."

"Then I'll see you soon, pet." With that he dissolved into thin air, leaving Lucy alone.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey all! Another chapter, a bit longer than the others. It has to be said that I gathered a bit of inspiration from some very special things. First, one of my O/C's is inspired by J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, his name is taken from one of my favorite books Sabriel by Garth Nix. Second, I fancied on an idea from the graphic novel prequel of The Labyrinth (check out the Muppetwiki if you don't know what I'm talking about.) Third, I took inspiration from Chaotica-l deviant art page, they have a lovely practical guide to the Labyrinth that you should probably check out. :)**

**And Thanks for the reviews! Keep them coming and I will keep writing. Happy Reading!**

A hot wind blasted through the massive, Martian-like valley that nestled the Goblin Kingdom. The sky was stained pink and cerulean, with wispy clouds lazily floating across the upper atmosphere. Dead shrubs dotted the sienna, baked earth, adding to the various browns and reds of the landscape. Lucy looked to the Labyrinth, a stone monstrosity sprawled below. It looked like it breathed, like some sleeping serpent, loosely coiled. It hugged the landscape, dipping down into vales and climbing over rolling hills. In the center was a towering castle, a gallimaufry of turrets and battlements. She could see the gleam of metal or glass reflecting in the morning light, dappling a huge wall that surrounded the fortress. The distance was dizzying. It was beautiful and scary. For a moment, she thought she saw a large bird soaring to the castle, otherwise the valley seemed lifeless.

Lucy felt completely at a loss. This game she started had no rules that she knew of. And she was afraid of making stupid  
assumptions. As much as Lucy wanted to be right where she was, she didn't want to die for it. She had to be smart about this, she needed a plan. She took stock of what she had: her clothes; fitted dark jeans, brown, thick soled boots (thank goodness they weren't heels), a cardigan and a green, scoop-neck t-shirt; in her canvas mail-bag was a carton of cigarettes, a lighter, her wallet, bottle of water, candy bar, couple of pens, tube of lip gloss, lotion, various notes, and a can of pepper spray. She wasn't sure how much use some of the stuff would be, she hoped that the inhabitants of the labyrinth were as open to trade and bribes as they seemed in the movie. Lucy lamented the fact that her copy of THE LABYRINTH was laying somewhere in her living room, it could perhaps have been some help. The lack of food worried her too, how long was she going to be wandering this place? Maybe some nice little worm would ask her for tea, maybe she would be able to go inside and meet the "missus." She chuckled to herself, the thought triggering the hope that some of her favorite characters from the movie were also here. She looked again to the labyrinth. The entrance was no small distance away, and she strained her eyes to gather the details. She saw two huge, gnarled old trees standing sentry on either side of a hulking wooden door. A stone hedged pond, with a modest fountain preceded the entrance, but alas, no Hoggle was visible. She hoped that he was somewhere in those walls, killing fairies and collecting jewels. Subsequently, she thought about the Goblin King, and his rather mystifying behavior. He looked similar to the movie, with the cavalier presence and clothing, but acted in a much more raw way. One moment, enticing her to be a game for him by being close and intimate, almost overbearing; the next, inflicting physical pain once the challenge was accepted. It's a game, she reminded herself, this is all part of the game. A game she needed to start. She slung her bag over her shoulder and started walking down from her perch of high rock. She hadn't gone too far when she came to a steep drop off, some forty feet down, too far to jump it, too sheer to really climb down.

"Well, this shit wasn't in the movie," Lucy said aloud. How much was going to be different? How much was going to be the same? She started to kick herself for her situation, but instead assaulted the dry ground with her boots, sending reddish dust into a clump of brush, which sneezed at her. Lucy jumped back and said, "Bless you."

"Thank you," a small voice, with a slight nasal undertone, answered. The bush shook, and out popped a furry little dark brown  
creature. At least Lucy thought it was brown until it disentangled itself from the shrub and shook off dust that looked like it had been collecting for years. Its fur was a deep blue, short, and streaked with crimson around the crown of its head. The creature couldn't have been more than a foot high, with a fuzzy, little, proportionate body, thin arms and legs, furry little hands with smooth, fleshy pink palms. It's face was rather cute, huge expressive eyes that seemed to have no iris, capped by scarlet eyebrows that fanned up and away from its face, a lot like moth antenna, a button nose, and a sweet, little mouth. It had a large bulge on its back, like a hump, that was smooth and hairless, but just as blue as the rest of its body. Lucy knelt down to the creature's eye level.

"Hi," she said tentatively. She hoped that the creature would talk to her, she could really use some insider information, even though this little being was outside, so to speak.

"Hello," it answered back, looking up at her face, a little grin dimpling its cheeks. Lucy guessed that it was a he, his voice sounded like a man's tenor that had inhaled a helium balloon. "You're new"

"I guess I am, to these parts anyway," she replied, "I'm Lucy, what's your name?"

"What's a Lucy?" Ignoring her question. He stretched his tiny arms and arched his back until his hump cracked. Large blue wings, like a moth's, unfolded from his shoulder blades. They were a deeper blue than the rest of his furry body, with red spots that corresponded to his red eyebrow antenna. He fluttered them and lifted himself from the ground, hovering close to Lucy, taking sniffs and throwing quizzical looks at her.

"Lucy is my name and I'm from the Aboveground, Overground, mortal realm, whatever term you use here." She answered, dodging one of his fingers poking dangerously toward her eyes. She stood up and wiped her hands on her pants, the pixie/butterfly rising in the air with her, hovering a few feet from her. "What about you? Do you have a name?"

The little creature gave a thought to it, "I calls myself Mogget. T'was other names, but I don't remembers them now. I haven't talked to anyone in a long time. But a girl from the Aboveground! And not just a girl, you looks grown. Not like the little ones that Jareth takes to the cities."

"So Jareth is his name. I wondered. " Lucy murmured to herself. "Do you live here Mogget? In this desert place?"

"I does. Jareth hates pixies, so he kicks us out, never to return to Labyrinth." Mogget answered, a noted droop in his antenna. "Most pixies moved on, Mogget stays and sleeps and hopes to go back."

"Why were you thrown out from the labyrinth?" Lucy asked. Mogget shrugged his shoulders, his beating wings sounding like falling paper.

"Jareth hates pixies... and lots of other stuffs." he said simply. Lucy thought about this, she wondered, if she was to take the Goblin Kingdom, or at least survive, she would need supporters. And here was a member of an alienated race that longed to go home. She thought for a brief moment of taking the Goblin King's throne and letting all the creatures that Jareth seemed to banish on a whim come back into the walls of the labyrinth. But first she needed to get to the damn thing.

"Mogget, I have a favor to ask. Do you know of a path down to the entrance of the labyrinth? I need to get inside." Mogget's wings stopped beating for a split second and it almost seemed like he would crash into the ground, before righting himself.

"Why do you wants to go in there? It's not for mortals, it's completely made to traps you." His little voice was a little shrill and his eyes went wide. Lucy humphed.

"The Goblin King wishes to play a game. And he wishes to play with me and I want to play too. So I'm giving him his game. I need to work my way through the labyrinth and find a way to defeat him and take the kingdom for my own. I have no desire to get back out again." There was that bravado again. Lucy wondered where it kept coming from, she was too nervous and a little terrified. But she guessed that she couldn't deny the ball of excitement she felt in her chest that seemed to keep growing the longer she was in this strange place.

"Takes the kingdom for you own?" Mogget intoned.

"Yes, but really, I am just mortal. I don't know how successful I'll be. But I need to try. I HAVE to get into that labyrinth. Will you help me? Please, sweet Mogget?" Lucy beseeched the flittering pixie. Mogget studied her for a moment, a very strange look on his very strange, fuzzy face. She went on, "If you help me, Mogget, and I somehow win, I'll let you come live with me in the castle. You can come back into the labyrinth. I give you my word. All you have to do, is help me at least get to the entrance. I'll figure my way from there." Lucy walked back to the ledge, " I just need to get down this." Lucy turned back to look at Mogget, but he had gone. What the hell was it with these mythical creatures and just up and disappearing? She cursed to herself. She turned back toward the labyrinth, almost considering mutilating her cardigan to create a makeshift rope, when she felt something tugging up on her shoulders and lifting her a couple of inches off the ground. Lucy turned her head to see a ball of blue hovering by her neck, his pixie arms straining and his moth wings beating furiously. Lucy gave a yelp of surprise when they bobbed over the edge of the cliff, her feet dangling and shirt digging into her armpits from Moggot's grip. Lucy heard Mogget's labored pants as he flitted his way to the ground slowly. His grip was strong for so small of hands and Lucy did her best not to panic. Mogget released her about a foot above ground, dropping her into a scrub brush, with withered leaves and thorns. She extracted herself gently and went to Mogget who was lying face down in the dirt, panting.

"Are you alright Mogget?" Lucy's voice was laced with concern. He gave a muffled response, his face in the dirt. She picked the poor creature up, his wings folding back into an awkward hump on his back. She cradled him for a few moments as she waited for his breathing to slow and his eyes to open. One lid slid open and his eye looked at her before closing again.

"You is crazy." Mogget huffed. " You thinks you can take the whole goblin kingdom? You can'ts even get down a ledge. How you gonna takes a goblin kingdom?"

"Mogget, it's question I've literally had an hour to think about. I have no idea. I just wanted to get here. I've been hoping to get here my whole life. I thought it was impossible. Granted, I imagined the circumstances would be different once I got here, but I am here." Lucy asserted, to him and to herself, "I need to do what I can."

"You don't even knows where to go," Mogget argued.

"The labyrinth is a puzzle, I just need to solve it. Thank you for your help. I won't forget it. You're very strong for one so small." Lucy adjusted her bag across her chest and started to walk the remaining distance to the entrance. She hadn't gone too far when she heard dirt rustling, she turned back to see a cloud of dust settling from the air. She felt a tug on her pants and saw Mogget, covered in red dirt looking up at her.

"I goes with you. I can helps. I wants to live in the labyrinth again, tis my home. So I wants to help. I knows someone that can helps you too. You needs to know how to fight and you needs to know magic." Mogget declared, looking up at her with those large eyes, and the impossibly sweet face. Lucy knelt down to him.

"You were banished though Mogget. Can you even get inside? Won't Jareth know that you're with me? Won't it make him angry?" Lucy asked. She shuddered at the thought of what could happen to him if things got real, so to speak.

"I hides in your bag and I wears dirt. I looks like filthy hobgoblin. He won't sees me. He can sees whatever he wishes in the labyrinth, but out here, he can'ts." he answered.

Lucy thought for a moment, "You know someone who can teach me magic? Who can teach me to fight?" The little pixie nodded in acquiescence. "And he can't see you if you stay in my bag?" He shook his head. "Do you still know your way around the labyrinth?"

Mogget shrugged his shoulders."It changes with different peoples. Labyrinth responds to mortals, it likes them and it likes to keep them. Just like the Goblin King." Lucy thought about that.

"Well, I do need help, and if you're so willing, I would be silly not to take yours. Plus I could use someone to talk to." She opened her bag and the little guy scrambled in, nestling himself next to her hip, poking his head out the from under the flap. He shot a grin up at her and she to him, and they started for the labyrinth entrance.

~~~~~

Jareth sat in his throne room, a slim leg thrown casually over the arm of his throne, dawn was cresting and his goblins were strewn about, snoring. He perched one of his crystal orbs staring into it intently. He couldn't see Lucy, she must not even be in the labyrinth yet. She had seemed brave and intelligent. He hoped that he hadn't misjudged her. He started to consider going to the outskirts to send her home when he saw her appear in his crystal. She was walking down the endless corridor, a small smile playing on her face as she ran her left and along the labyrinth wall. Behind her, Jareth noticed that as she walked, sometimes little flowers bloomed on the dead foliage scattered across the stone path. The labyrinth liked her, Jereth realized with a little dismay. That should make the game interesting. He watched her look at the walls with wonder, her smile growing wider as she walked along. He watched her ebony curls lift with the wind, brushing her long, ivory neck. She was a petite woman, with little shoulders and little feet. She was soft and womanly in the right places. Her eyes were large and deep blue, her eyebrows full and dark. Sweet full lips red as summerwine. Her gait was relaxed, her demeanor one of wonderment. The Goblin King wondered what she thought about, as she studied the one-eyed lichen with almost child-like glee. Most of the mortals he has brought to the Underground have wanted out as soon as they were there, most of them foregoing what they had lost to return to what they knew. This girl has lost nothing, she wanted to be here. It was plain in her face.

He watched her take one of the hidden entrances that lead to the stone maze. She took a path that would lead her to one of the goblin hermits that inhabited those more remote parts of the kingdom. More of the scholarly mortals he had taken over the centuries had settled to these places once their transformation completed. All transmorphed to some specie of goblin, none kept their human attributes as Jereth did when he first came to the Underground, oh so long ago. Whenever he took a mortal that was wished away, Jereth had hoped that they would respond to the Underground as he did, he changed it as much as it changed him. He became a part of it, keeping most of his humanity intact. Any mortals that showed promise of this, transmorphed to the point that they couldn't accept it and blamed Jareth, though these were the rules of the Underground, and not his own decision. They kept to the protection of the labyrinth, but stayed away from Jereth and his court. Any goblins that stayed close to Jereth had lost their humanity almost completely.

So he watched this mortal woman. Watched as she picked her way through the endless passages of stone and creeping vines. Watched as she consulted her bag, for what he wasn't sure, she was still too far away for him to see so clearly. He considered what this woman might have in store for him. A wicked smile spread across his face as he thought of what he had in store for her.

~~~~~

Lucy was beside herself with absolute delight. It was everything she dreamed it would be. The towering walls of stone brick that glittered in the sunlight. The cracked flagstones that lined the paths between. The hazy sky. The tingling of what she thought might be magic in the tips of her fingers and toes. Lucy was sure that she could have spent the rest of her life meandering through this place. Lucy didn't know which way she was facing in relation to where she had started, but the thought didn't really bother her anymore. She had gotten lost in the woods and instead of finding a way out, she had built a house instead. Mogget talked to her about what he knew of the labyrinth. He told her how no one remembers when it was built or why. No one knew who the first monarch of the labyrinth was, or if there was even one before Jareth. Mogget explained that the labyrinth didn't really follow the whims of the king, but rather the king followed the whims of the labyrinth. They were a part of each other.

While Mogget gave Lucy a simplified version of labyrinthine history, he guided her through the maze as best as he could. They came to many dead ends, and at one point it seemed like they had taken a path that would only lead back on itself, no matter which way they turned, until Lucy laid her hand on a thick growth of creeping ivy, which parted at her touch, revealing a way out. Mogget cheered at this, exclaiming that she "had magics in her hands."

The Stone Maze seemed almost abandoned, a little derelict and bare. It felt like they had walked for hours, and indeed they had as the sun had just slid past mid-day point in the sky. She was starting to get hungry, but instead of grabbing her candy bar, she asked Mogget for the bottle of water. She drank deeply and offered the bottle to the pixie. She helped him hold it as he sipped awkwardly, little dribbles running down his chin.

As she put the cap back on the bottle and handed it to Mogget, she inquired about their destination and who they were going to meet. "Is he a wizard or something?" Lucy asked.

"Not really," Mogget answered. "He's a sage. His knowledge of magics goes far. But he has no magics of his owns. When he was mortal he was a fighter for a great king in the Aboveground. But now, he's a grumpy goblin"

"Will he be willing to teach me?" Lucy inquired. She hoped so, this person seemed to be just what she needed.

"'Tis hard to say. He might wants something for it. He mights just be willing to do its because he hates Jareth." Mogget answered.

"He hates Jareth? Why?"

"He hates it here. He hates that he's a goblin." Mogget said sadly.

"He hates being a goblin," Lucy repeated. "He knows that he wasn't always a goblin?"

"Yes. Somes of the mortals that gets trapped here remember who's they was before. Most don't though."

"Do the goblins that remember who they were hate Jareth too?"

"Not at alls." Mogget replied brightly, "Somes very loyal to Jareth. I think Haggle is one, or is it Higgle?

"Hoggle?" Lucy's heart started to beat quickly.

"Yeah! That's his names! Hoggle." Mogget climbed out of the bag and up the straps, perching on her arm that was bracing the straps. "Hows does you know Hoggle?"

Lucy laughed a bit and wondered how she was going to explain. "Well," she said, " In the Aboveground, there is a story about this place. I loved that story since I was a little girl. And since I first saw it I wanted it to be real. I thought the story was just a story. I'm glad I was wrong."

"Do you thinks it's real because you wants it to be reals?" Mogget asked, Lucy laughed, bright and clear.

"God I hope not! I hope that this place exists whether I think about it or not. I hope that this isn't some philosophical experience that I'm going through just in my head." Lucy looked down at Mogget and smiled, " Either way it doesn't matter, I guess. It feels real to me. I just hope that it stays that way. How much further until we find this knight goblin?"

Mogget clambered up her arms and across her shoulders, shifting this way and that, looking forward and back. He hurried back down and took shelter back in her bag. He poked his head back out and said. "There's gonna be two doors, we're gonna wants the one that goes to certain death, not the castle. Once we gets through that, we should be's very close."

"Whoa, pump the breaks. What do you mean we want the one that leads to 'certain death?'" Lucy stopped and brought the bag to her face to look Mogget square in the eye. "Isn't death certain behind that door? How am I going to get past that?"

"The labyrinth likes you. And you WANTS to go that way. So maybe it won't be so bad?" Mogget answered, his voice lilting up in uncertainty as Lucy stared him down, making him slightly shrink back into the bag.

"Ugh," Lucy exclaimed in disgust, "Is there no other way to him?" Mogget shook his head.

"It's long, long ways around. It could takes weeks before we gets there. That and you never know what the labyrinth might do. There's trap doors that leads to oubliettes and other nasty places through the door we need to goes through. And I cans fly you over the traps. We just gots to keep sharps." Mogget explained. The look on Lucy's face softened as she thought about what he said, he crept out of the bag tentatively.

"All right Mogget, I trust you and I don't have any better ideas." she sighed. She carefully dropped the bag back to her side and they continuted to walk in silence. Before too long Lucy arrived at the twin doors, and groaned. There were similar shields on either side of the door, one with a red emblem and embellishments, the other with blue, and she just knew that those stupid goat-dog looking things would be hiding behind those shields, like a pair of grotesque jack of cards in the third dimension. She never cared for them when she was young. She always wished Sarah would have slapped one or both of them. She continued to walk up to them, when, just as she feared, they poked their heads out.

"Halt!" One head cried out. "You can chose only one door! One door leads to the castle-"

"-and the other one leads to certain death. Yeah, yeah I know." Lucy finished for him.

"Well if you know so much," another head piped up, "Then which door is it?"

"I don't want to go to the castle." Lucy answered. The guards stared at her, all four heads had slightly open mouths.

"Where do ya want to go then?" The top red guard asked. He went on, " I have to tell you that if you ask us, one of us only tells the truth-"

"-the other one always lies, yeah got it." Lucy finished for them again. She looked at her bag for a hint of Mogget, but other than a bulge she felt on her hip, he was no where to be found. She turned back to the doors.

"Well, I know I want the door to certain death. But which is it?" She felt two little pinches through her bag, one gripped the left side harder than the other. Lucy took the hint. "I think it's behind the left door."

The guards went behind their shields and whispered frantically, Lucy was almost sure that they were just mock whispering nonsense. They came from behind their shields again as she strode to the left door with confidence, while inwardly shrinking away from the creepy guards. She turned the knob, walked through and looked back at the guards.

"Nice knowing ya!" one said. Lucy slammed the door closed behind her, clinging to it so as to not trigger any traps. Mogget flew out of her bag. He landed on the ground a little ahead of Lucy and inspected what looked like a squarish stone on the ground. He flew back to Lucy and pointed to the rock.

"That's what the triggers looks like. If you steps around them, they shouldn't get us." Mogget informed Lucy.

"What kind of traps are there, you said something about trap doors to oubliettes, are there any other traps?" Lucy refused to think it was so simple.

"Well yeah, there are others, but I don't knows what they are." Mogget shrugged, " I only ever triggereds trapdoors. Good things I could fly."

"Indeed." Lucy replied. She started along the stone corridor, creepy branches hung over the sides of the walls, attached to towering trees that Lucy couldn't see the top of. They walked quietly, keeping sharp eyes on the path. Lucy let her mind wander. She thought about what Mogget told her about Jareth, how he hadn't always been the Goblin King, that he was, in fact, once mortal. She was curious about his story, how did he come to be here? How was he made king? How did HE feel about this place? She was about to voice her questions to Mogget when the pixie cried out.

Lucy looked down and saw that she had stepped on a trigger, but no door opened beneath her. She and Mogget held their breath and listened, and just as they both sighed breaths of relief, they heard a sharp crack and the low, loud growling of rock on rock coming from behind them. They whipped around to see the stones that covered the walkway, bulging up in a wave, approaching very quickly. Lucy snatched Mogget from the air and stuffed him unceremoniously in her bag and bolted. She ran as hard as she could, constantly throwing looks over her shoulder only to see the speeding, monstrous bump grow closer. Suddenly, it expanded, and exploded, with a deafening crash, from the ground a giant boulder that looked like it was being pushed by goblins with huge arms and thin legs. She ducked as she ran, dodging debris that flew past her head. She tried to keep her eyes to the path, keeping the triggers in view. There was a sharp turn ahead, Lucy almost laughed in relief, thinking that the boulder would just bash through the wall. But as she rounded the corner, the boulder followed her, only gaining more momentum. Lucy panicked as she looked for an escape route, she thought her legs were about to give out and her lungs were on fire. Then she saw a thick rope dangling from an over grown branch a short distance away, Lucy pushed with her last bit of strength. She jumped with all her might, grabbing the rope and swinging high with it, over the boulder that kept rumbling past, her stomach flip flopping as she soared. She wrapped her legs around the rope as she swung back down, the rope jerked hard and the swinging slowed. As she started to make small circles on the rope she jumped off of it and looked up in the trees.

There sat a rather tall goblin, more human looking than not. Lucy was reminded of Hoggle, they had similar frames and the same too big head on too little of body. He wore a black tunic with a leather vest and tan pants. His face had a swarthy look, with a long nose, craggy skin and shrewd eyes. They made eye contact with one another and the goblin spoke first.

"I see the King sends you his regards." His wrinkled face cracked into a smile. "You must have tea with me and tell me why the Goblin King greets you with such enthusiasm."


End file.
